Carol Rose
Basic
All too often I see authors and (I'm sorry to say) editors who incorrectly point out passive voice in a critique or an edit. Many blog posts and articles also incorrectly point out how to spot passive voice. This post will help clarify how to identify passive voice in your writing.
First, let's dispel a few myths:
Passive voice is NOT every single instance of the verb TO BE. You'll see why in a moment.
Passive voice is NOT a form of the verb TO BE plus an ING WORD. Again, you'll see why in a moment.
Grammar checks in Word or other word processing apps will catch passive voice. No, they probably won't. Grammar checks are dicey things. Rely instead on what I'm about to teach you.
Passive voice, quite simply, is a sentence in which the subject is ACTED UPON, instead of one in which the subject PERFORMS the action.
Determine who or what is doing the action in the sentence. Are they performing it, or is it being done to them?
Yes, that's it. That's all you have to look for. Who or what is doing the action in the sentence, and are they doing it, or having it done to them?
Here is an example of PASSIVE VOICE:
The house was painted by the team.
What is the subject of this sentence? THE HOUSE.
What is the action? WAS PAINTED.
Did THE HOUSE perform an action? No. It had an action performed ON IT. It WAS PAINTED.
Here's the same sentence in ACTIVE VOICE:
The team painted the house.
The subject is THE TEAM.
The action? PAINTED.
Did the team have an action performed on it? No. It performed an action. It PAINTED.
Here are more examples:
Poland was invaded.
Poland is the subject.
Did Poland perform an action?
No. Poland had an action performed on it. It WAS INVADED.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Poland was invaded by Germany.
Same scenario. Poland had an action performed on it. It was invaded by Germany.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Germany invaded Poland.
Germany is the subject.
Did it perform an action?
Yes. It INVADED Poland.
This subject is ACTIVE VOICE.
Is it passive voice or continuous tense?
Here's that stuff about the verb to be and ing words...
Passive voice is formed with the auxiliary verb to be, followed by the past participle of the main verb, EXCEPT in present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, or future continuous tenses.
Often, sentences are flagged as passive because people mistakenly believe that any use of the verb to be indicates a passive sentence. But present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, and future continuous tense are all ACTIVE tenses.
The neighborhood kids built a tree house– ACTIVE – the subject is the neighborhood kids and they performed an action– they built the tree house.
The tree house was built by the neighborhood kids– PASSIVE – the subject is the tree house, and it had an action performed on it– it was built by the neighborhood kids.
The neighborhood kids were painting the house– ACTIVE – past continuous form of the verb paint. The subject is the kids and they were performing an action– they were painting.
The tree house was being painted by the neighborhood kids– PASSIVE – the subject is the tree house, and had an action performed on it– it was being painted.
Should you always use active voice? Not necessarily. There are circumstances where passive voice is fine to use. You can read about those in various blog posts and articles. But to keep your fiction writing active, watch for instances of passive voice and change it to active voice as needed. Keeping your writing active reduces the tell by eliminating the distance between the reader and the character's actions that passive voice creates.
You can bookmark these links for future reference on how to easily spot passive voice in your own sentences.
http://www.alumni.org.br/Quiz/Faq/pv.html
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/
https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/09/14/102274_how-to-identify-passive-voice.html
Passive Voice - The Writing Center
First, let's dispel a few myths:
Passive voice is NOT every single instance of the verb TO BE. You'll see why in a moment.
Passive voice is NOT a form of the verb TO BE plus an ING WORD. Again, you'll see why in a moment.
Grammar checks in Word or other word processing apps will catch passive voice. No, they probably won't. Grammar checks are dicey things. Rely instead on what I'm about to teach you.
Passive voice, quite simply, is a sentence in which the subject is ACTED UPON, instead of one in which the subject PERFORMS the action.
Determine who or what is doing the action in the sentence. Are they performing it, or is it being done to them?
Yes, that's it. That's all you have to look for. Who or what is doing the action in the sentence, and are they doing it, or having it done to them?
Here is an example of PASSIVE VOICE:
The house was painted by the team.
What is the subject of this sentence? THE HOUSE.
What is the action? WAS PAINTED.
Did THE HOUSE perform an action? No. It had an action performed ON IT. It WAS PAINTED.
Here's the same sentence in ACTIVE VOICE:
The team painted the house.
The subject is THE TEAM.
The action? PAINTED.
Did the team have an action performed on it? No. It performed an action. It PAINTED.
Here are more examples:
Poland was invaded.
Poland is the subject.
Did Poland perform an action?
No. Poland had an action performed on it. It WAS INVADED.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Poland was invaded by Germany.
Same scenario. Poland had an action performed on it. It was invaded by Germany.
This sentence is PASSIVE VOICE.
Germany invaded Poland.
Germany is the subject.
Did it perform an action?
Yes. It INVADED Poland.
This subject is ACTIVE VOICE.
Is it passive voice or continuous tense?
Here's that stuff about the verb to be and ing words...
Passive voice is formed with the auxiliary verb to be, followed by the past participle of the main verb, EXCEPT in present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, or future continuous tenses.
Often, sentences are flagged as passive because people mistakenly believe that any use of the verb to be indicates a passive sentence. But present perfect continuous, past perfect continuous, and future continuous tense are all ACTIVE tenses.
EXAMPLES
The neighborhood kids built a tree house– ACTIVE – the subject is the neighborhood kids and they performed an action– they built the tree house.
The tree house was built by the neighborhood kids– PASSIVE – the subject is the tree house, and it had an action performed on it– it was built by the neighborhood kids.
The neighborhood kids were painting the house– ACTIVE – past continuous form of the verb paint. The subject is the kids and they were performing an action– they were painting.
The tree house was being painted by the neighborhood kids– PASSIVE – the subject is the tree house, and had an action performed on it– it was being painted.
Should you always use active voice? Not necessarily. There are circumstances where passive voice is fine to use. You can read about those in various blog posts and articles. But to keep your fiction writing active, watch for instances of passive voice and change it to active voice as needed. Keeping your writing active reduces the tell by eliminating the distance between the reader and the character's actions that passive voice creates.
You can bookmark these links for future reference on how to easily spot passive voice in your own sentences.
http://www.alumni.org.br/Quiz/Faq/pv.html
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/
https://wordcounter.net/blog/2016/09/14/102274_how-to-identify-passive-voice.html
Passive Voice - The Writing Center